Welcome to the Family, Bean
by usetheforceponyboy
Summary: AU where the Solo kids are a lot closer in age to Ben. One shot of them meeting their new cousin, Ben Skywalker


After Mara assured Luke that she could handle the Solos, they finally came over to check out the newest intruder to their small family. It actually had to take some persistent persuading on her part, but after that rough couple of days who could blame him. Plus it was nearly impossible to keep them away; they were so excited. On the morning of their visit, Mara laid in her bed, cuddling the tiny baby close to her chest. Luke stood next to her as they heard the front door open downstairs and the thunder made by tiny steps as Jaina, Jacen, and Nik ran up to the master bedroom. "Brace yourself." He said to her. Soon they could hear chattering whispers on the other side of the door as Han knocked loudly three times out of politeness. "Come in!" Luke called out.

Han's long arm opened the door into the room, and under it walked in three hesitant but excited children. Their eyes grew wide as they took in the sight of the small bundle in Mara's arms. Jaina clapped both her hands over her mouth as she let out a small _ohhhh!_ The small moment of awe was soon over as they all jumped onto the bed to get a closer look.

"Okay guys don't crowd her or jump on her." Leia's stern but motherly voice said behind them. She carried in her arms a basket of Mara's favorite foods. "The kids insisted on getting you another present. How are you? "She said as she set it down on the bedside table and kissed Mara on the cheek in greeting.

"There's some cards we made for you and the baby!" Jaina chimed in.

"I'm great, honest. Ohhh, how nice." Mara said as she picked a random, wrinkled, folded paper out of the basket. "Jacen, what a lovely dog."

"It's a venomous lizard rat."

"Oh." She said as she carefully put the card back.

"SO KIDS," Luke quickly interjected, "what do you think of your new cousin, Ben?"

"BEAN?!" Nik, exclaimed in dismay (coincidentally securing poor Ben's nickname for most of his childhood.)

"NO you dumb butt! Why would they name him Bean?" Jacen yelled in response to him.

"Jacen, be nice! And kids stop bein' so loud. You're gonna wake him up." Han said in his scariest kids-be-quiet voice. Still, this didn't stop the barrage of input about to erupt forth, and it became a sort of odd little juggling act on his part to keep his kids from being too rough on Mara and Ben.

"He looks kinda like a bean." Jaina said to assure Nik a little.

"He looks more like a pupae to me."

"Jasa, why does everything gotta be bugs to you?"

After Nik studied the little sleeping face for a little bit, he decided to give his own opinion on his newly arrived cousin. "Why's he so ugly lookin'?"

Han snorted as Leia turned away and covered her face with her palm; Luke choked a bit, but didn't laugh out loud, and Mara just looked subtly surprised. "Excuse me?" She asked softly.

"So I'M the mean one?!" Jacen asked indignantly.

Poor Nik had a bad habit of saying whatever came to his head without thinking first. He perceived it as an innocent question, like something he'd ask about one of Jacen's creatures. The surprised look on his round face alerted everyone to the fact that he didn't mean it out of spite. Still, Leia gently prodded him to apologize.

"I'm sorry Aunt Mara." He said as he climbed to gently give her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm sorry baby." He said quietly as he kissed Ben on his forehead. "He's really fuzzy."

"I must say, you're one to talk. I swear you were at least twice as ugly when you were his size!" Mara laughed as she ruffled Nik's wavy hair. He smiled as he realized everything was fine. "It's okay. Just watch out next time." She whispered into his ear.

"I think he's cute, at least." Jaina added as she lay on the bed to Mara's right, her head resting on her elbows as she gazed at Ben. She seemed especially entranced by him, even though a couple weeks ago she threw a fit when she heard the news that her cousin was going to be another little boy. The baby's head began to wiggle a little from side to side as he started to wake up. His eyes blinked open to the sounds of surprise from the children, as if they didn't think that it was possible for babies to do that. They looked at each other for a bit before he started crying, which jostled them quite a bit.

"Uh oh." Luke said gently as he moved closer to the bed.

"We're sorry!" Jaina cried out to him. "We didn't mean to wake him up!"

"Oh no, I don't think it was your fault. I don't think he's eaten in a while, that's all." He answered.

"He's hungry?" Jacen asked. Again, they were surprised that babies could be hungry.

"Everyone gets hungry."

"Just give him some of this!" Nik had crawled out of bed and put his hands on the basket handle.

"He's too little for that." Leia said as she moved it away from him.

"Too little? Well what can he eat?" Jacen inquired as another look of worry came over his face.

"Milk."

"Milk?" Jacen wasn't a fan of milk. "What kind? From where?"

"From me." Mara smiled at him as she shook Ben a little to calm him down.

"WHAT? HOW?" The kids all looked at her, shocked.

"OKAY, well let's give them a little break for now. We'll try to see them again tomorrow." Han said as he shuffled them to the door.

"I'll call tonight." Leia murmured to Mara before she followed them out.

"I'd like that." She answered. "Okay! Okay! I hear ya!" She said to Ben as his little cries continued.

Han went over to Luke to shake his hand. "He looks great, kid, handsome as a holo. I'm sorry we couldn't break out the cigars." He clapped his hand on Luke's shoulder.

"Thanks, Han." He said as Han left to join the rest of the Solos in the hallway. As he opened the door, a chorus of questions about babies and milk poured through. "Well, Bean," He said as he gently patted the back of his son's head. "Welcome to the family. I'm afraid you're stuck with us." Mara chuckled.


End file.
